1. Technical Field
This invention is directed to interactive display arrangements and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for enabling a user to vary the time of display for messages on such display arrangements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Current trends in the design of telephone terminals indicate that more of telephone functionality increasingly is being integrated into the telephone display associated with the terminal. For example, information as to the features available on the display has migrated from LEDs to the display, and local additions such as directories, status information, incoming caller information, etc. are all migrating to the display.
By incorporating a display, which typically comprises alphanumeric characters, into a telephone terminal, a considerable amount of information may be conveyed to a user of the telephone terminal. Different users of a telephone terminal generally assimilate information at different rates, however. Also when a new user of a telephone terminal is becoming familiar with the features and options available at the terminal, he or she will assimilate the information provided in the telephone display at a different rate from that which he or she reads the information after some exposure to both the telephone terminal and the display.
Some current telephone terminals in the art employ displays that keep a screen of information static. In such a terminal, the information is retained on the screen until the user actuates a button or switch on the terminal for releasing the displayed information and advancing to the next screen of information. This type of display has the disadvantage or requiring the user to initiate a "move on" action on the telephone terminal. Other current telephone terminals in the art employ displays which present timed screens of information to a user. These timed screens of information, unfortunately, may appear too fast for the novice user and too slow for the experienced user of the telephone terminal.